Bad breaks go against Normal Community in extra-inning state semi defeat: ‘They were right there’
- Jonathan Michel
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
JOLIET — Baseball is a game of inches.
A pitch an inch more outside. A glove an inch more to the right. A swing an inch more out in front.
If all — perhaps even one — of those things happened, Normal Community would have been playing for a Class 4A baseball state title. But none of those minute measurements favored the Ironmen as they endured a 2-1 loss in eight innings to Libertyville in Friday’s Class 4A state semifinal at Slammers Stadium in Joliet.
The Ironmen fought admirably in a pitcher’s duel with an all-star defensive effort and seven strong innings from junior starter Gavin Swartz. The Wildcats finally clawed the Normal Community ace in the eighth inning after a batter hit by a pitch, an error and two singles led to a pair of runs.
Their backs against the wall, the Ironmen rallied and scored a run with two outs in the bottom of eighth but Brady Burkhart, representing the tying run, was left 90 feet away from the necessary destination.
“[The team is] just disappointed in the fact that they were right there,” Normal Community head coach Ryan Short said. “That's what baseball is about: to score the first run, and we didn't do that today.”
The Ironmen will play in the third-place game on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Chicago Brother Rice. Normal Community had won 22 games in a row coming into Friday and while the Ironmen wish they had the game back, they’re not hanging their heads.
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“I think we're all really happy with each other and how we competed our butts off until the end of the game,” Swartz said. “We never gave up once [and] I don't think we're too down on ourselves.”
“The sun's going to come up tomorrow, and we are 0-0 right now,” Short said. “We have a chance to win that last game tomorrow. We're going to give it everything we got.”
Ironmen defense shines as 0’s hang on for dear life
Friday’s game put the top-notch pitching talent of both teams on a pedestal. Swartz, Normal Community’s leader in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts, had given up just four hits and one run in 15.2 postseason innings. Libertyville’s Chase Lockwood hadn’t lost a game all season and toted a sparkling 0.95 ERA.
The Ironmen knew that runs weren’t going to be easy to come by for either side.
“Everytime I go on the mound, I expect it to be a low-scoring game,” Swartz said. “I knew I was just going to go out there and try to do my best to give our team the best shot we could. I think our hitters did the exact same thing.”
Both teams matched each other’s strength in pitching and rock-solid defense to keep a swiftly moving game scoreless heading into extra innings.
The Ironmen and Gavin Michaels flashed their leather early as the junior second baseman recorded an unassisted double play for the game’s first outs. Left fielder Andrew Naour reeled in a fly ball on a dead run to take a Libertyville extra base hit away to end the fourth inning.
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Catcher Max Heineman saved runs from scoring in the fifth and the sixth, the latter of which he ended by throwing out a runner stealing second. That came after right fielder Chase Harris displayed his rocket of an arm by throwing Libertyville’s Josh Holst out at second after he hit a deep fly ball that banged off the right field wall.
“That's a big time baseball play to take the carom off the wall and just fire a strike to second base,” Short said. “Kyle Beaty is a pretty high-level tagger so he did a great job of holding his ground and getting the ball and getting [the tag] quickly.”
Normal Community had its fair share of scoring chances snuffed out as well.
A diving play and throw from Wildcats third baseman Bode Rohrbach denied Swartz a base hit in the fourth. One inning later, designated hitter Lucas Beaty drew a walk to begin the frame and third baseman Jacob Engel nearly beat out a sacrifice bunt, but was called out in a bang-bang play at first.
“It looked like he was safe because it bounced in there, but you can't blame the game on one call,” Burkhart said.
The Ironmen, who stranded eight runners to Libertyville’s seven, loaded the bases after an infield single from Michaels and a walk by senior shortstop Kyle Beaty, but Heineman grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the threat. Swartz drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth and moved to third with two outs when pinch hitter Drew Stevens, battling through a lingering hip injury, came up to bat.
Stevens hit an awkward grounder that bounced off the mound but the Wildcats were able to nab him at first to keep the game scoreless. Keeping his team’s persistence, Engel doubled to the left field wall in the seventh but Lockwood (8 IP, 7 K, 3 BB, 5 H) lived to see another day after two fly outs.
“We really thought we had opportunities to win that game but it's sports, it's life,” Swartz said. “We’re ready to win another game tomorrow.”
Errors lead to late runs for both sides
Holst hit a rocket right back at Swartz, who threw to third in an attempt to get retreating lead runner Mason Strader, but the ball just missed Engel’s glove and allowed the game’s first run to score. Carson Holmes laced a single to right on the next at-bat to put Libertyville up 2-0.
The Ironmen had a pinch of magic left in their back pockets though.
Down to their final out, Naour was hit by a pitch and Burkhart hit a slow-bouncing grounder to third. The wide throw to first skittered into the Wildcats bullpen, allowing Naour to score and Burkhart to reach third.
“I rounded first and saw the throw go into the bullpen and I was like ‘I gotta get to second’ then I saw him bobble it again, so I went to third but it was crazy,” Burkhart said.
However, Lockwood slammed the door and struck out Lucas Beaty on three pitches to seal Normal Community’s fate.
“If that ball rolls around much longer in right field, we get a chance to score the second one,” Short said. “But it just didn't happen.”
Chance to end on win excites Ironmen
Swartz threw seven strikeouts and one walk in 7.1 innings, throwing the maximum 115 pitches with 70 going for strikes. Libertyville, who will play McHenry in Saturday’s title game, out-hit Normal Community 6-5.
“I felt like I didn't have my greatest stuff today, but I feel like I really did well on competing and working with what I had,” Swartz said. “I gave it my all today [and] I didn’t want to make the moment any bigger than it was.”
Third-place games are always a watershed topic of discussion in the IHSA sphere. But it gives Normal Community one more chance to do what it’s done all season: win.
“Obviously it sucks that we lost this one,” Burkhart said. “It's a close battle, but it’d be great to go out on a win. How many teams get to say that?”
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